Response To HW Blog 4/14/11

In the past, last year, I wrote an essay in Ms. Priester's class for our Playwrights project. I wrote about a past experience with a family member that was not so pleasant for me. I worked on it for a majority of the time that we had with the Playwrights actors/actresses. I enjoyed it a lot, but I believe I received only a grade of a B- or a C+. It wasn't the hardest that I had ever worked on something per say, but I did put a good amount of effort into it. Looking back, I wish that I would have worked much harder and disciplined myself to exploit the potential that I had in writing that story. I had fun with the whole project though, and I definitely had a great over-all experience. It was one of the things that I had put more effort into, compared to other assignments where I failed to strive to work as hard, so it did feel pretty good to actually TRY on something. This year has been TOTALLY different for me, and I have matured by far in so many ways.

Important Event

One of the most important events that I am able to think of for my Playwrights project is, when I left Arizona to move to SPA. Other than that, another important event would be entering the foster care system for the second time.

My Personal Growth

In my opinion, I believe that I have grown in several ways over the last two years. My first and strongest growth is my maturity. I have matured by stepping up and taking action in my life and also learning how to handle personal situations better. My second area of growth that I have noticed is responsibility. I have stepped up to the plate and take responsibility for my actions. Responsibility to me is very important, for it is another sign of maturity, and it is also one of the key elements in life. My third region of growth lays with self respect. I have learned how to do on to others as I wish to have done on to me, and also I have learned how to take better care of my body by eating better and being more physical. My fourth growth accomplishment is my consciousness. I am more alert about what I am saying/ doing, and I like to think things through 2 or 3 times before doing them. I can't say that I have mastered this area yet, but I continue to grow in it and shape myself into the adult that I will soon be.

I believe that the cause for my growth had mostly came from inner and my desire to do better and get out of the whole that I'd dug myself into. Also, it was good to have a few of my friends and family members there with me to help me stay motivated and to keep pushing. I think that changing and doing better is one of the best decisions that I have ever made in my life so far. I do like the mistakes that I had made in the past though, because if I hadn't made them, then I would not be who I am today, and to me that's all that really matters.

My Top 5 Answers

#3 Question: "This packet says that you have to write a few papers in order to get the finished one. Do you think this is true or do you think that writing two papers is good enough?"
#3 Answer: I believe that the more you write, the better you become and you will learn how to reduce your mistakes.

#6 Question: "Would you say that someone who uses the reading and thought process mentioned in the packet is better than someone who did not even if they are also a skilled writer?"
#6 Answer: No. I think that if you have your own style and it works, just go with it.

#7 Question: "What if kids do not want to 'raise their standards'? What is the solution then?"
#7 Answer: They can only help themselves. The solution has to come from within themselves.

#8 Question: "What do you think is a good way of getting a student to be a more motivated writer?"
#8 Answer: By letting them find their intrinsic motivation, or leading them to it.

#14 Question: "What do you think is the difference between revising and editing? Could they be clumped together and what would be the benefits of doing that?"
#14 Answer: They could be clumped together, but revising is more like 'changing', while editing is more of like a spell check.

Groups in P.1...

I believe that my group is great the way it is. We all work well and get along great. We each accomplish all of work, and study at a decent rate. The three of us also usually complete our homework, and we're good about asking questions if we need help. With that being said, I am saying that we all have similarities in my group. Therefore, I think it is perfect.

My response to the "What is reading?" packet.

In my opinion, I think that this was a great article, and it taught me a lot that I did not know before. It is a very detailed passage, filled with several facts.

From this article, I learned that while reading, your eyes move in jerks. This means that your eyes are fixating on every single word 90-95 percent of the time. I was also informed that sometimes, your eyes "regress", meaning that when you skip a word, or skip a line, or don't follow your place while reading, subconsciously your eyes try to find where they were lost at. Also, I learned that during this process, they move at 1/40 of a second. Proficient reading is obviously very important, but while reading this story, I found out that anyone has the potential for their eyes to be trained, meaning that you too can become an excellent reader! :)

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